If the word rodeo conjures images of vine-ripened tomatoes, you must be a San Antonio gardener. The two go together like cowboys and Wranglers thanks to the Bexar County Master Gardeners, which has a longstanding tradition of introducing a new variety of tomato each year at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo.

Both varieties produce tasty medium-size fruit, and they tolerate heat. They're also resistant to a new threat, Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus, a disease with a name and effects as unpalatable as a store-bought tomato.

The virus, spread by whiteflies, is spreading from South Texas. “It's gotten as close as Uvalde, so it's not going to be long before it's in this area,” says Rodney Peterson of Peterson Brothers, a local wholesale nursery that tested Tygress for two years.

The plants will be available at the Master Gardener booth in the Little Buckaroo Farms exhibit at the stock show, which runs through Feb. 24. Sold in 41/2-inch containers, they will cost $3 each or $10 for four, and proceeds will benefit the Master Gardener scholarship fund.

Even with the retail price of tomatoes likely to jump after an agreement between U.S. and Mexico growers, backyard gardeners probably won't save money by growing their own produce. With the investment in plants, soil, fertilizer, “it's probably cheaper to buy them (at the grocery store),” Rodriguez says. “But it's better to grow them for all the good that comes out of it.”

Those who take home tomato plants from the rodeo will have to baby them through any cold weather that might blow in. Those wanting to take a risk can plant in late February, but the plants might have to be covered with special insulating fabric if a freeze or strong wind is forecast.

Otherwise, Rodriguez recommends holding off on planting until early or mid-March. In the meantime, plants can be moved from their 41/2-inch pots to 1-gallon containers to give them a chance to stretch their roots.

For those who don't get Tygress plants at the stock show, the plants will be available at local nurseries, Rodriguez says.